Our People

• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bridgewater State University
• Master of Arts in Political Science from University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Connecticut
• Dr. Valla joined Massachusetts Maritime Academy's Emergency Management Department in 2016 after completing a career with the FBI as an intelligence analyst. During his tenure with the FBI, Dr. Valla provided intelligence analysis on most of the major terrorism investigations conducted by the FBI's Boston Field Office which included the 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon Bombing. Dr. Valla also served as a military intelligence officer with the U.S. Army Reserve and retired as a Major in 2004. His final assignment before retiring was as an instructor at the Joint Military Intelligence College - now the National Intelligence University. While there, he taught graduate courses in intelligence analysis, terrorism, and analytic methodology, as well as other national security topics.
• When not teaching, Dr. Valla enjoys running, hiking, working out, white-water rafting, and foreign language study. He is an avid science fiction fan. A lifelong resident of Massachusetts, he grew up in Kingston and now resides in Taunton. 

A baptized non-denominational Christian

Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies from Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

Master of Science in Disaster Science and Management from University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with direction of Societal Risk Management from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

Postdoc at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Chapman University, Orange, California

Dr. Wang is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Emergency Management at the Academy. His research topics include social vulnerability, hazard modeling, risk assessment, loss prediction, equivalency of hazard intensity, nowcasting of weather events, and media coverage of disasters. His methodological tools involve data science, machine learning, geographic information science, remote sensing, and qualitative approaches. Dr. Wang has been working on earthquake, flood, heavy rainfall, lightning, tropical cyclone, wildfire, and extraterrestrial hazard; as well as disaster risks within a multi-hazard context.